The International Chess Federation approved Russia's transition to the Asian Union

The issue was considered at a meeting of the council on Tuesday, February 21, according to a message on the FIDE website. Now this decision must be approved by the Asian Chess Federation. It is expected that this will be done at the General Assembly in Abu Dhabi on February 28. If the decision on this issue is approved, Russia will become a member of the ACF on May 1 this year. The ACF has previously spoken about its readiness to accept Russian chess players as members.

The transition means that Russia is automatically deprived of membership in the European Chess Union, since the federation cannot belong to several continents at the same time, the report says.

Russian chess players who have left the country can join any European chess federation. Russian players can do this until the end of August this year. It is noted that they are exempt from fees.

Earlier, the head of the Russian Chess Federation Andrey Filatov explained that the federation plans to move to the ACF in order to strengthen the development of this sport. He noted that over the past 30 years of membership in the European Chess Union, not a single serious competition has been held in the country. In Asia, this sport is actively developing. The Asian Chess Federation today includes 52 countries, including India, China, Australia, Japan and a number of countries of the former Soviet Union.